Thursday, July 4, 2013

The future of the American experiment

The fourth of July, the annual
celebration of the thirteen colonies declaring their independence from Great
Britain, is an appropriate occasion to reflect on the future of this democratic
experiment.

The United States has twice been undisputedly
the most powerful nation on the planet, first at the end of WWII and then at
the end of the Cold War. Both times, the U.S. attempted to employ its power to force
changes that it thought would achieve a safer, more peaceful future. Both times,
it failed. The unnecessary, unsuccessful wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have
proven a massive drain on the nation's financial resources, resulted in the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and diminished U.S. power,
reputation, and competitiveness.

The nation's founders, having
studied prior experiments in democracy, were concerned that a standing
military, overseas entanglements, and a too-powerful executive all had the potential
to subvert our democratic experiment. Since WWII, a great many Americans have
sadly accepted all three as givens.

Seven decades of those policies have
produced an economy and political system that views defense expenditures as nearly
sacrosanct. Recommending substantial reductions in defense spending triggers unsubstantiated
allegations of comprising national security. Defense contracts and spending,
deeply embedded in almost every Congressional district, mean that reductions potentially
cost politicians votes and are therefore unpalatable. Even seemingly harmless
proposals, such as eliminating the $1 billion commissary system that only
military personnel and retirees can patronize, cause the same reaction. The outcry
over this proposal (harm to national security and loss of jobs) was
particularly egregious because Wal-Mart had offered to match commissary prices
for shoppers previously authorized to patronize the commissary system, i.e.,
the change would have saved taxpayers $1 billion with no reduction in military
benefits.

Has the over-sized U.S. military
already become so deeply entrenched in the U.S. economy and political system
that substantial reductions are impossible? Have overseas entanglements (e.g.,
NATO and other treaty obligations, a continuing presence in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and an unfaltering commitment to Israel) become so permanent that global
dominance rather than mutual cooperation is how the U.S. views the world, a
perspective increasingly untenable in a globalized, multi-power world? Has the
imperial presidency, which beginning with FDR has progressively abrogated
Constitutional processes to appropriate power for itself, set the U.S. on an
irreversible trajectory toward dictatorship?